Upanishads · Bṛhadāraṇyaka 2,4.1
॥
Devanāgarī
मैत्रेयी इति होवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः उद्यास्यन् वा अरे अहम् अस्मात् स्थानात् अस्मि हन्त ते अनया कात्यायन्या अन्तम् करवाणि इति
Transliteration (IAST)
maitreyī iti hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ udyāsyan vā are aham asmāt sthānāt asmi hanta te anayā kātyāyanyā antam karavāṇi iti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मैत्रेयीmaitreyīMaitreyī (maitreyī — the wife of Yājñavalkya); Maitreyī; Maitreyī
इतिitithus; how
होवाचhovācahe said; He spoke
याज्ञवल्क्यःyājñavalkyaḥYājñavalkya; the sage Yājñavalkya
उद्यास्यन्udyāsyanI am about to depart (future participle of ud + √yā); preparing to depart; departing
वाvātruly; surely
अरेareO dear one; O
अहम्ahamI; Himself
अस्मात्asmātfrom this; out of this
स्थानात्sthānātfrom this station (sthāna, abl. — from the householder's order); from this condition; from this state
अस्मिasmiI am; I am
हन्तhantaso then; come now
तेtethose; these
अनयाanayāwith this one; by means of this
कात्यायन्याkātyāyanyāwith Kātyāyanī (kātyāyanī, instr.); with Kātyāyanī; with Kātyāyanī
अन्तम्antama settlement (anta — 'a conclusion, a division'); the section; a division
करवाणिkaravāṇilet me make (from √kṛ, voluntative); I shall make; I shall bring about
इतिitithus; how
Translation
"Maitreyī!" said Yājñavalkya. "I am going away, my dear, from this state [of a householder]. Come, let me make a settlement between you and Kātyāyanī."
Version
c293bd325d90 · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:54:37 AM UTC
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Here begins the conversation of Yājñavalkya with Maitreyī — perhaps the most beautiful pages in all the Upaniṣadic literature. The setting is simple and immense: the greatest sage of the age is ending the life of a householder and going out into the forest (udyāsyan — "I am about to depart"); and before he goes there is an honest domestic duty: the division of property between his two wives, Maitreyī and Kātyāyanī.
Note how the Upaniṣad introduces the highest teaching: not from a mountain nor from a throne, but from a family talk about an inheritance. Yājñavalkya's testament begins as a matter of property — and in a moment, by his wife's question, it turns spiritual: the division of goods becomes a division of the eternal from the temporal. Great conversations are born not out of learned disputations but out of honestly faced turnings of ordinary life.